SEATTLE - The University of Denver volleyball team fell 3-0 to No. 5 seed Washington (12-25, 14-25, 12-25) Friday at Alaska Airlines Arena in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Pioneers completed their second-straight 27-win season with their second trip to the NCAA Tournament.

"Hats off to University of Washington," head coachJesse Mahoney said. "That's as good a volleyball team as I've seen in a while, and they were good in every phase: serving, passing, attacking, blocking, defense. They were definitely suffocating throughout the match. That being said, I'm really proud of our team for how we played. I thought we were pretty fearless. I thought we went toe-to-toe, we didn't back down, we took a lot of really big swings, and I thought we got better as the match went on, so proud of how we played and definitely proud of our season this year."

Cassie Baird (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Ruth Okoye (Aurora, Colo.) recorded four kills apiece, leading the Pioneers. Monique Domme (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Piyusha Boteju (Euless, Texas) split the setting duties, dishing out nine and seven assists, respectively. Okoye also tallied three block assists, and Sarah Schmid (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) had an ace in the match. Libero Cassidy Rooke (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) led Denver with seven digs in the match.

The Pioneers claimed the first point of the match off a kill from Baird, but the Huskies earned the next three points to gain the momentum. Despite not allowing a run of more than three points until the final six of the first set and forcing two more ties, Denver could not combat with Washington's offense. The Huskies hit .481 in the first set with 16 kills; Denver only had six kills and a .120 hitting percentage. Okoye led DU with three kills in the first set as well as a block. The Husky defense also proved to be up to the challenge with 15 digs compared to DU's seven.

Once again the Pioneers limited the Washington runs, but the well-rounded Huskies proved to be too much. Denver had six kills for the second set in a row, and Washington forced six Pioneer attacking errors. Washington tripled Denver's offensive output with 18 kills. The Huskies also nearly doubled Denver's dig total with 22 to DU's 13 digs. Rooke led the Pioneers with four digs in the set, while Schmid's two kills were the most by a Denver player in the second set. Baird, Okoye, Nola Basey (Lyons, Colo.) and Kayla Principato (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) all tallied a kill in the second set, and Becca Latham (Austin, Texas) notched a solo block.

Washington pulled away in the third set with a seven-point run to gain a 12-4 lead over the Pioneers. Denver could not return from the deficit, ultimately falling 25-12 in the third set. Latham led the DU offense, which had six kills for the third set in a row, with two kills, and the freshman also posted two blocks in the final set. Domme notched four assists, and Basey recorded three digs. Washington had its best offensive showing in the third set with 20 kills and a .567 hitting percentage. Courtney Schwan led the Huskies with nine third-set kills without an error.

- JOIN THE DENVER PIONEER NATION -

Visit DenverPioneers.comfor complete coverage of all 17 of Denver's NCAA Division I sports.

Like Denver Pioneersand DU Volleyballon Facebook

Follow @DU_Pioneersand @DU_Volleyballon Twitter

Pioneer Women's Volleyball Home